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[Text/Ruan Jiaqi, Observer Network]

According to Israeli media such as The Times of Israel on the 16th, on Thursday (15th) local time, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu held a meeting with several senior Israeli officials, including judicial officials, to discuss whether to set up an investigation committee to investigate the attack launched by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Israel on October 7 last year and the Gaza War.

The report said that this is part of Israel's efforts to fend off the International Criminal Court (ICC) from issuing arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, on the grounds of war crimes. Israeli Channel 12, Ynet and other Israeli media quoted legal experts as saying that the establishment of a national investigation committee would be Israel's "greatest hope" to avoid arrest warrants for Netanyahu and others, because this move would show that the Israeli judicial system is seriously investigating all aspects of the current conflict.

According to the Times of Israel, Netanyahu's office confirmed reports that the Israeli prime minister held a meeting with senior Israeli ministers and foreign, defense and legal officials to discuss how to respond to possible ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Galant.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office revealed that Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara told Netanyahu at the meeting that she believed a national investigation committee should be established. According to multiple Israeli media outlets including Israel's Channel 12, other legal experts also agreed with the proposal.

However, reports said the proposal was repeatedly rejected by Netanyahu, who said it was "uncertain" whether doing so would prevent the ICC from issuing an arrest warrant against him.

“Even in (Miala’s) opinion, it was not certain that the creation of such a committee would cancel the request for an arrest warrant,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “Therefore, several other options were discussed at the meeting.”

Israeli media did not mention the specific content of the other plans, but The Times of Israel said that Netanyahu would prefer to set up a lower-level government investigation committee or other type of committee rather than a national committee.

The report pointed out that the government's investigative committee is composed of members selected by the executive branch and its investigative powers are generally smaller than those of the National Commission, whose members are appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Opponents of Netanyahu's government and others believe that only the National Commission, which has the broadest powers under the law, is the appropriate organization to conduct a detailed investigation of all aspects of the incident.

No decision was immediately made at Thursday's meeting, but Israeli media Ynet reported, citing an alleged anonymous aide to the prime minister, that Netanyahu may announce the establishment of a government investigation committee in the coming days. However, Netanyahu's office responded by calling the report "fake news" and said they had not yet made any decision.

On May 20, local time, Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announced that he had asked the court to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Galant and three leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). Netanyahu reacted strongly to this, condemning the move as "absurd and wrong" and opposing the International Criminal Court's comparison of Israel and Hamas.

After Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich said that "starving 2 million people in Gaza to death is reasonable and moral", the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Affairs issued another statement on August 8 local time, calling on the ICC to issue an arrest warrant for Smotrich, saying that his extreme remarks were a clear recognition of Israel's adoption and boasting of genocide policies.

A report published by The Times of Israel on the 9th pointed out that in the past week, more than a dozen countries, academia and human rights organizations have submitted various legal arguments to oppose or support the ICC's power to issue arrest warrants.

Much of the legal wrangling reportedly centers on whether the ICC's power to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders is overridden by a clause in the 1993 Oslo Accords, in which the Palestinians agreed as part of the deal that they would have no criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals.

Israel did not submit a written argument, but its ally the United States did, arguing that the clause "retains Israel's exclusive jurisdiction over crimes committed by Israeli nationals. It is therefore impossible for the Palestinians to delegate to the ICC jurisdiction that they have never had."

Others cautioned the judges against accepting that reading of the accord. The Palestinians said in a written document that accepting that argument “would usher in a new era of regression in the international order, where political manipulation and impunity take precedence over justice and accountability.”

According to the health department of the Gaza Strip, as of August 15 local time, the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have killed more than 40,000 people since the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict in October last year. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs issued a statement on the same day, saying that most of the dead were women and children. This number is a "cruel milestone" for the world and urged all parties concerned to immediately cease fire.

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